nemesis wrote:
> "scott" <sco### [at] laptopcom> wrote:
>> And when my mum tries to plug in her new camera...?  I was actually very
>> impressed that my mum managed to install the software for her camera and get
>> it working without even a single phone call to me :-)
> 
> On Linux she wouldn't need to install any software on CD whatsoever.  Digital
> cameras are just USB devices and USB is an industry-strength standard.  It
> works on Linux out-of-the-box.  And it comes with plenty of image visualizers
> to see the content.

USB is a physical layer standard. The wire protocol? Well, good luck 
with that... If the camera speaks the mass storage device protocol, 
it'll work on just about every OS known to man that supports USB. If it 
uses a custom proprietry protocol... well, you had *better* have 
drivers! What's that? Your manufacturer wouldn't release the protocol 
spec without an NDA? Oh, I'm sorry, you have no Linux driver. :-P

I had endless fun trying to get SUSE to talk to a HP LaserJet 1000 over 
USB. You should try it sometime. It requires you to connect to the 
Internet, manually download a tar.gzip file, figure out how to unpack 
it, do the whole configure/make/install trip, and then *maybe* CUPS will 
be able to drive the printer. Oh, but you gotta to it just right. [Gee, 
it almost sounds like Windows!]

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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